Tracking militarists’ efforts to influence U.S. foreign policy

Jeffrey Bergner

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Jeffrey Bergner is a high profile corporate lobbyist and supporter of neoconservative advocacy groups who served as assistant secretary of state under Condoleezza Rice during the George W. Bush presidency.

A former Senate staffer with strong ties to several major right-wing organizations, Bergner was included in Public Citizen's report "Most Popular Drug Industry Lobbyists in 2000 and Their Revolving Door Connections." [1] His lobbying firm at the time, Bergner, Bockorny, Castagnetti, Hawkins & Brain, represented a number of high profile firms and defense contractors, including Bristol-Myers Squib, Boeing, Hewlett-Packard, Phillip Morris, Monsanto, Lucent, and Dell.[2]

A 1998 Washingtonian article characterized Bergner's lobbying work thusly: "On sunny afternoons Jeffrey Bergner, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staffer, and David Bockorny, an ex-GOP House staffer who maintains a good relationship with Speaker [Newt] Gingrich, don warm-up gear and head out for a jog along the Mall. For bad weather, they have an exercise area in their offices on 16th Street. The two are known for taking care not only of their own health but also of their health-care clients, such as Georgetown University Medical Center. But that doesn't prevent them from taking in some $360,000 a year in lobbying fees from tobacco giant Philip Morris. Is there a conflict here? Bergner says not. 'We represent the university hospital on a completely different set of issues,' he says. 'And we leave decisions about conflicts up to the client.' Bergner and Bockorny are also chief Washington lobbyists for Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation Limited."[3]

In 2001, nine days after the 9/11 attacks, Bergner signed another PNAC letter, this one addressed to President Bush and endorsing the "war on terrorism." The letter advocated the invasion of Iraq and removal Hussein, and encouraged a large increase in defense spending.

Bergner was later recruited into the Bush administration. He served as Assistant Secretary of State for Legislative Affairs under Secretary Condoleezza Rice, focusing on legislative and budget issues in Congress.

Bergner is a close associate of Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), having worked as his staff director for the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations and as policy director on Lugar's presidential campaign in 1995 and 1996.

Bergner has taught at several universities, including the University of Pennsylvania, the University of Michigan, Georgetown University, and Christopher Newport University.[4]

Bergner's books include The Next American Century: Essays in Honor of Richard G. Lugar (Rowman & Littlefield, 2003), The New Superpowers: Germany, Japan and the United States in the New World Order (St. Martin's Press, 1991), The Taiwan Relations Act: A Decade of Implementation, co-edited with William Bader (Hudson-SRI, 1989), and The Origin of Formalism in Social Science (University of Chicago Press, 1981).[5]

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In a recent article, Atlantic columnist Leon Wieseltier, a proponent of U.S intervention abroad for purportedly liberal causes and a “pro-Israel” ideologue, lambasted the nuclear deal with Iran, saying it would “strengthen a contemptible regime.” He added that the United States should resume its “hostility to the Iranian regime” and “arm the enemies of Iran in Syria Iraq.” Responded one observer: “Does he know who Iran’s enemies in Iraq are? Let me give some hints: they don’t care much about the Freedom Agenda or the Iranian people—they like beheading Shiites.”

Why is the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) so adamantly opposed to the Iran nuclear deal? Comments by former AIPAC employees suggest that the lobby is motivated as much by its own survival as it is the survival of Israel. A recent Nelson Report newsletter quoted a former AIPAC official who stated that “Iran has been an enormously lucrative fundraiser for AIPAC” and that “without this cause AIPAC and this Israeli government” may have to “focus on more critical issue [sic], like peace with the Palestinians.”

Michael Oren served as Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2009 to 2013. A naturalized Israeli who was born in the United States, Oren has spurred widespread criticism for a recent book in which he lambasted President Obama’s foreign policy and Jewish Americans’ views of Israel. Among his claims are that “persistent fears of anti-Semitism” have spurred Jewish Americans “to distance themselves from Israel.”

Citizens for a Nuclear Free Iran (CNFI) is an offshoot of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that was founded to “educate the public about the dangers” of the recent nuclear agreement reached between Iran and the P5+1 world powers. The group has launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign against the Iran deal, primarily aimed at Democratic constituencies. One prominent nuclear expert has described CNFI’s TV ads as “very misleading.”

Fellows and staff from the neoconservative Foundation for Defense of Democracies—a staunchly militarist think tank—have assailed the nuclear deal reached between Iran and major world powers. “Mr. Obama seeks to accommodate and appease Iran’s rulers,” FDD President Clifford May has claimed, adding that “It would be an exaggeration to say that such policies always lead to major wars and holocausts.”